Lifelong Cardiac Care: How AI-Powered Remote Patient Monitoring Redefines CHD Management

Heart conditions don’t just affect older adults—they can impact even children. Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are lifelong conditions requiring specialized care. Thanks to medical advances, more CHD patients now reach adulthood, with adult cases outnumbering pediatric ones. While 40,000 children are born with CHDs annually, 1.4 million adults live with the condition.

Despite this, care is often most intensive in childhood, leaving many adults without proper follow-up. Limited specialist access and resource constraints further complicate long-term management. AI-powered remote cardiac monitoring bridges these gaps, providing continuous insight and enabling proactive, lifelong care for patients.

The Lifelong Nature of CHDs

Many adults lack regular cardiology follow-ups, increasing their risk of complications. A major barrier is the shortage of adult CHD specialists, especially in rural areas, making it difficult for patients to find experts familiar with their condition.

Many CHD patients, particularly those without symptoms, underestimate the need for ongoing care. Aging increases the risk of complications like pulmonary hypertension and heart failure. Addressing these challenges requires a proactive, lifelong approach—one that leverages technology to extend specialist reach.

How RPM Connects Cardiac Care Between Childhood and Adulthood

AI-enabled remote patient monitoring (RPM) uses artificial intelligence to analyze near real-time heart data from wearable devices, offering providers a high-acuity view of a patient’s heart health for more proactive intervention.

For patients with CHD, this technology has the potential to bridge the widespread gap between rigorous pediatric care and the hands-off approach often seen in adulthood. One study showed nearly half of CHD patients were lost to follow-up (LFT), with 45% not seeing a cardiologist in 5+ years. RPM ensures continuity of care, addressing challenges CHD patients face during their adult years. Let’s explore how this technology’s benefits.

• Ensures Continuity of Care

AI-powered remote monitoring allows for seamless tracking of patient heart health throughout adulthood, regardless of changes in providers or locations. Dynamic data collection and access means pediatric cardiologists can maintain a line of sight into adult patient populations, monitoring progress and outcomes from afar. Meanwhile, adult cardiologists can continue to deliver care in the context of the patient’s entire care journey.

• Enables Proactive Interventions

AI algorithms detect subtle heart function changes, allowing cardiologists to intervene before complications escalate. This proactive approach reduces emergencies, lowers costs, and improves long-term CHD management. For example, consider a 50-year-old CHD patient who had a surgical intervention as a toddler with no ongoing clinical complications. A physician-prescribed AI-powered remote cardiac monitor reveals an anomaly. After investigation, the cardiologist identifies an emerging valve issue stemming from their CHD. Proactive intervention enables timely surgery before complications arise.

• Bridges Geographic and Specialist Gaps

Many adults with CHDs have limited access to specialized adult cardiologists. One study estimates 45% of the U.S. population lives over one hour away from an adult congenital heart disease center, with 5.4% living 4+ hours away. Remote cardiac monitoring allows these patients to remain connected to expert care without frequent in-person visits. 

• Empowers Patients through Lifelong Engagement

Transitioning from pediatric to adult care often leads to a loss of connection, as patients may underestimate the need for ongoing monitoring and follow up. One report notes the worldwide average LFT is 26.1%. AI-powered monitoring systems keep patients engaged and informed through alerts, reminders, and insights tailored to their condition. This helps patients take a more active role in their health, fostering better adherence and follow ups.

• Informs Research and Progress

The impact of remote cardiac monitoring extends beyond a CHD patient. The CHD community is one of continuous research and advancement, focused on understanding the factors that influence quality of life for CHD patients worldwide. The collective, deidentified data afforded by remotely monitoring CHD patients at scale has the potential to support this research, unearthing new insights into life with CHDs, surfacing opportunities for improved outcomes, and even enabling predictive models. 

A Connection Worth Maintaining: RPM Bridges Childhood and Adult CHD 

AI-powered remote cardiac monitoring is not just a technological advancement—it’s a vital tool for ensuring continuous, high-quality care for CHD patients throughout their lives. By bridging the gap between pediatric and adult care, this technology addresses critical challenges in care access, outcomes, efficiency, and cost effectiveness. Most importantly, it shapes a new standard of care for adult patients with CHDs, ensuring no change in care quality as they progress into adulthood. 

For healthcare leaders, the path forward is clear: adopt RPM as the standard for adult CHD care and foster collaboration between pediatric and adult cardiology teams.